WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had cancer surgery this year, was kept at a hospital overnight after she became drowsy and fell from her seat aboard an airplane. Court officials blamed a reaction to medicine.
It was the second time Ginsburg, 76, has been hospitalized in the past month. She was taken to a hospital Sept. 24 after falling ill at her Supreme Court office.
Ginsburg was taken to Washington Hospital Center late Wednesday by paramedics and released Thursday morning, court officials said.
Ginsburg, along with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia, was heading to London to take part in ceremonies for the opening of Britain’s new Supreme Court.
“Prior to the plane taking off, the justice experienced extreme drowsiness causing her to fall from her seat,” a court statement said. “Paramedics were called and the justice was taken to the Washington Hospital Center as a precaution.”
The statement said doctors attributed her symptoms to a reaction caused by the combination of a prescription sleeping aid and an over-the-counter cold medicine.
